Fluid level sensors have long been used in a variety of applications, notably including various types of vehicles, such as automobiles, ships, and aircraft. As the most common form of fuel for such vehicles is liquid, namely petroleum-based fuel, fluid level sensors are used to provide information regarding a remaining stock of fuel, to avoid fuel shortage situations. In addition to fuel levels, the levels of various other fluids, such as coolant, lubricant, and the like, may also be of interest, and fluid level sensors are often used to inform operators and/or service personnel of remaining quantities of the various fluids, to avoid shortages which in certain situations lead to mechanical failure.
In certain vehicles, particularly aircraft, regulations are such that single-point failures are to be avoided or reduced as much as possible. As a result, aircraft control systems are frequently required to provide redundancy, such that failure of a first component of the control system does not prevent the control system from functioning. In the case of fluid-level-sensor-based systems, this typically requires the vehicle to be provisioned with two separate and distinct fluid level sensors, which increases the weight burden imposed on the vehicle and increases the complexity of the system.
As such, there is room for improvement.